Are You My Mentor? Definitions and Experiences With Mentoring Among Students of Color in STEM

• In Event: STEM in Graduate Education

Abstract

This study examines the experiences of 17 Black and Latino graduate students in STEM as they describe their mentoring relationships. While some had positive mentoring relationships with their advisors, others sought mentoring elsewhere, or had no mentors at all. Students defined mentoring as incorporating having access to someone with experience, having someone translate those experiences into direct guidance, and a person with whom they could share a connection and mutual understanding.

Authors

• Kimberly Griffin, University of Maryland

• Vicki Baker, Albion College

• Kerry Ann O' Meara, University of Maryland - College Park